Electoral division of Port Darwin

Port Darwin is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in the Northern Territory of Australia. It was first created in 1974, and is an entirely urban electorate, covering only 5 km² and taking in the Darwin central business district, as well as the suburb of Larrakeyah and part of Stuart Park. There were 5,699 people enrolled in the electorate as of August 2020.

Port Darwin Northern Territory—Legislative Assembly
Location of Port Darwin in the Darwin/Palmerston area
Territory	Northern Territory
Created	1974
MP	Paul Kirby
Party	Labor
Electors	5,699 (2020)
Area	5 km^2 (1.9 sq mi)
Demographic	Urban

Unlike most state and territory electorates based on CBDs, Port Darwin historically tilted conservative. For most of the first four decades of its existence, Port Darwin was a safe seat for the Country Liberal Party, although it was one of only two seats the party did not hold in the first parliament from 1974 to 1977. It was widely considered as CLP heartland, and was their safest seat in Darwin for many years. The strength of the CLP vote in the seat was seen at the 2000 by-election caused by the resignation of controversial former Chief Minister Shane Stone, when a struggling CLP still managed to easily fend off any challenge in the seat.

After the Labor Party victory at the 2001 election, it became the only CLP-held seat west of Palmerston, and the only CLP seat in the capital. As a result, there were very few signs in the lead-up to the 2005 election that sitting member Sue Carter was in danger, with most commentators expecting her to win another term. However, on election day, there was a surprise significant and unprecedented swing to the ALP across the Territory. Though the result was so close that it was not known for several days after the election, Carter was ultimately defeated by Labor opponent Kerry Sacilotto by 73 votes. Sacilotto actually won just enough primary votes to take the seat without the need for preferences. She held the seat for only one term, until when John Elferink regained the seat for the CLP at the 2008 election.

Elferink seemingly consolidated his hold on the seat in 2012. However, he retired ahead of the 2016 election. At that election, the CLP lost over 12.9 percent of its primary vote amid its collapse in the Darwin/Palmerton area, allowing Paul Kirby to become only the second Labor member to win it. Kirby successfully retained the seat four years later.

Members for Port Darwin

Member		Party	Term
	Ron Withnall	Independent	1974–1977
	Tom Harris	Country Liberal	1977–1990
	Shane Stone	Country Liberal	1990–2000
	Sue Carter	Country Liberal	2000–2005
	Kerry Sacilotto	Labor	2005–2008
	John Elferink	Country Liberal	2008–2016
	Paul Kirby	Labor	2016–present

Election results

2020 Northern Territory general election: Port Darwin[1][2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Liberal	Toby George	1,625	37.8	+1.5
	Labor	Paul Kirby	1,611	37.5	−1.0
	Territory Alliance	Gary Strachan	540	12.6	+12.6
	Greens	Timothy Parish	315	7.3	+7.3
	Independent	Leah Potter	210	4.9	+4.9
Total formal votes			4,301	97.5	N/A
Informal votes			112	2.5	N/A
Turnout			4,413	77.4	N/A
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Paul Kirby	2,233	51.9	−0.9
	Country Liberal	Toby George	2,068	48.1	+0.9
	Labor hold		Swing	−0.9

References

1. "Electorate summary: Port Darwin". NTEC. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
2. "Port Darwin". ABC Elections. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 7 September 2020.

External links

• Division profile from the Northern Territory Electoral Commission